Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to welcome the two generals. Mr. Thompson attended the Royal Military College Saint-Jean. We are always pleased to see officers who attended that college.
My question is for you, Mr. Thompson. I have here a copy of the latest edition of the military magazine Esprit de Corps, in which you appear to be overly optimistic. In an article, you said that we are not losing the war in Afghanistan, and you refute what the Americans have said; they do not think things are going well. You seem to be saying that they are painting a very bleak picture of the situation on purpose in order to justify to the American people the deployment of 17,000 new soldiers.
You also said that there have hardly been any civilian casualties, when almost everyone.... Even Mr. Karzai recently demanded that the U.S. stop all bombing precisely because of these civilian casualties. Contrary to what many people see as a loss of territory following Operation Medusa, you said that ground was not lost and that the Taliban changed tactics. They did so because it was clear that they were not able to stand up to NATO forces. In my opinion, that is not a bad move on their part.
Were you not a little too optimistic in that article? Do you remember speaking with someone from the Esprit de Corps magazine? If what you said is true, reassure me. I do not think that you are painting a very accurate picture of the situation on the ground. One wonders sometimes whether you are not spreading propaganda yourself when you say things like everything is under control and things are going very well. In the past, I have seen generals paint a very rosy picture of the situation in Afghanistan, including General Howard.